Racing

Bright Star

Simply put, one-design racing doesn’t get more competitive than the venerable Star class. Take this year’s Worlds, held Miami, Florida. 104 Star boats from around the world arrived to battle for the title of the world’s best Star sailor, including names as big as Hamish Pepper, Robert Scheidt, and Mark Mendelblatt, but ultimately it was the Polish duo of Mateusz Kusznierewicz and Dominik Zycki who took home the silver.

But what’s interesting is the fact that while Kusznierewicz and Zycki won the event, their finishes were hardly all bullets. In the six-race event, Kusznierewicz and Zycki scored 1, 1, 44 (their throw-out race), 3, 4, 5, finishing overall with a total of 44 points. Certainly, Kusznierewicz and Zycki sailed a masterful series but the fact that their throw-out race was a paltry 44th brings to light the fact that in the Star Class, one mistake and you get buried, fast.